Man from London charged in US for £3 million hack-to-trade scheme

A British man has been arrested and charged by US authorities for hacking into the computers of five companies to illegally obtain information about their expected earnings, resulting in profits of $3.75 million from insider trading. Robert Westbrook, 39, from London, faces multiple charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of computer fraud, with the US Department of Justice seeking his extradition.

Westbrook was arrested this week in the UK and is facing additional civil charges from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Although the companies involved were not explicitly named in court documents, financial details indicate that they could include Tupperware, Tutor Perini, Guidewire Software, Murphy USA, and Lumentum Holdings.

Authorities allege that Westbrook was involved in a “hack-to-trade” scheme, gaining access to executives’ email accounts between January 2019 and May 2020. He allegedly utilised nonpublic information to trade stocks and options before at least 14 earnings announcements and even set up automatic forwarding of emails from these executives to his accounts.

Jorge Tenreiro, acting chief of the SEC’s crypto assets and cyber unit, characterised Westbrook’s actions as sophisticated international hacking, involving the use of anonymous email accounts, VPNs, and bitcoin to conceal his activities. Each charge of securities and wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the computer fraud charges could lead to up to five years each.